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Two officials suspended after fatal crashes

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-02-04 14:46

KUNMING -- Two Chinese officials have been suspended from duty after being involved in separate deadly traffic accidents, local authorities said on Tuesday.

He Yanhui, deputy mayor and head of Lincang City's public security bureau in southwestern Yunnan Province, was suspended from his posts after his SUV hit a motorcycle on January 23, a spokesman with the Yunnan Provincial Public Security Department said.

The head-on crash in Midu County killed a family of three aboard the motorcycle, including a pregnant woman.

"According to the investigation, He was held fully responsible for the accident," said the spokesman without revealing further details except to say tests showed no alcohol in He's blood after the collision.

He, who turned himself in to police, is now free on bail pending a trial. No word on how long he will be suspended from his posts.

After a separate accident in Dangyang City in central Hubei Province, Fang Jiaping, vice chairman of the municipal political consultative conference, the local advisory body, has also been suspended from duty.

Fang's car and a motorcycle collided on Sunday, killing one and injuring another, a spokesman with the Dangyang municipal government said on Tuesday.

The cause of the accident, as well as whose fault is, was still under investigation, the spokesman said.

This is not the first time an official from Dangyang has been involved in a deadly traffic accident. In 2008, Fan Xiaolan, the then-mayor of Dangyang, resigned after hitting and killing an 11-year-old student with her car.